Steve looks at Woodside Park Stud’s newest shuttler Cable Bay
The son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), shuttling between Woodside in Tylden and Highclere Stud in the UK, has already created quite a buzz and an extraordinary response from breeders.
“It’s been phenomenal really,” says Woodside bloodstock and sales manager Matt Tillett. “Nine out of every ten phone calls I receive are inquiries about Cable Bay which is quite amazing given that you could argue we’ve got the best line-up of stallions in Victoria.”
Chiefly driven here by shareholder Rick Jamieson, there is already a sense of mystique about Cable Bay. Breeders who might have initially discounted him are now clamouring to be involved.
Jameson reportedly mesmerised a recent gathering of bloodstock agents as he espoused the virtues of the horse and his mission statement which centres on the premise that no mare will be mated with this stallion unless considered eminently suitable. And a few have been knocked back but he still has a full book of 150 mares.
Good heaves, a genuine attempt to breed a better animal. There’s no guarantee, of course, it will work but the approach should be unhesitatingly applauded.
“I searched high and low to find a stallion prospect with a pedigree profile that would give us the right opportunity, and I believe that Cable Bay is that horse,” Jamieson has said.
The search was to find the stallion whose pedigree best matched with the greatest number of broodmare sire-lines.
“Not many people are prepared to turn away a willing, paying customer but we’ve been very rigid, in terms of Rick’s guidelines, as to whether the mare will suit Cable Bay. We fundamentally have a list of mares based on Rick’s template,” Tillet continued.
“And, in a sense, this has stimulated interest in the horse rather than having alienated potential customers. You could call it something of a science experiment and we’re excited about it. Rick himself searched the portfolios of mares owned by the shareholders to determine which were suitable. Some weren’t but we still got 50 mares going to the stallion from the shareholders and we’ve had great interest from all over Australian and overseas.”
Cable Bay is far, far from away being one of the best performed racehorses retired to stud but that matters not. There’s no shortage of gun stallions who produced better performed offspring than themselves. For example, Written Tycoon who won just twice.
The stud’s blurb notes that “In the Group One Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, the Northern Hemisphere’s best two-year-old race, he recorded a faster time than champion colts; Frankel, Shamardal, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Teofilo, Rock Of Gibraltar and The Minstrel.” It fails to mention he did not win the Dewhurst but again, never mind. This is potentially an exciting horse.
Meanwhile, Written Tycoon remains in high demand despite an increase in his service fee to $88,000 (inc GST) (from $49,500) last year.
“He’s rising 15 but in great health. We get the masseuse to him regularly and really he’s treated like a God and he’s fully booked for this year with a better book of mares than he’s ever had before,” Tillet said.
“Despite the fee increase they’re still coming and we’ve had interest from breeders all round the world which is pretty cool for a ‘little’ farm like us. He’s done a fantastic job and even, last week, his select weanlings at the Great Southern Sale averaged around $155,000 of $17,000 odd service fees.”